The 7thConvocation ceremony of the ICFAI University, Hyderabad, was held today at its Campus, on Shankarpally Road, Hyderabad. 1,466students were awarded degrees during the convocation.

Delivering the convocation address, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri and Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems, Defence Research and Development Organisation highlighted the importance of the spirit of learning leading to research, resulting in technologies that benefit the mankind. He urged the students to distinguish themselves as responsible, enlightened and productive citizens of the country, and use the knowledge they have gained to benefit the country. He said, “You have an important role to play as future citizens and ambassadors of our great country.” He asked the students to be innovative and adapt constantly to economic and technological changes taking place around us. He said that artificial intelligence would impact our lives in unimaginable ways in days to come. On the progress our country made in the missile and space technologies have made in our country, he said, “The success of Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicles, Agni Series of Missiles, Interceptor missiles, guided munitions, nuclear submarine INS Arihant, fighter aircrafts and the Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions have propelled us into an elite club of nations possessing ‘niche’ technologies.”

For the success of ‘Make in India’ programme, he urged the academic institutes to become hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship, and collaborate with other academic institutions and research organizations. He asked the students to also take part actively in the Startup India Programme. He told them to stand by the values and principles of the founders of the university. He asked the students to be a continuous learner, and said, “Be broad-minded and tolerant. Never lose the zeal and spirit to question. Have the strength to defend what you think is right. These qualities, which your alma mater has instilled in you, will be useful as you move forward in your career.” He concluded by appreciating ICFAI for nurturing culture of excellence throughout.

In his message to the faculty members, he said “I would appeal to the faculty of ICFAI to lay emphasis in research on specific goal oriented research topics, which are relevant to national needs and sometime specific to the region.”

Prof J. Mahender Reddy, Vice Chancellor presented a report on the progress made by the University during the year 2016-17. He

informed that during the year the faculty members of the University published 245 papers in professional journals of repute of which 25 were in A*/A Journals listed in Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality list and 159 in Scopus listed journals. He also highlighted the achievements of various departments and students in the University.

Dr C Rangarajan, Chancellor of the University, presided over the function. Delivering his address, he called for radical changes in higher education. The reforms in higher education, he said, have three dimensions – access, equity and quality. For ensuring quality he called for focusing on modernization of curriculum, efficient teaching, attitude of the students and reforms in examination system. Calling for change in the evaluation system he said, “the present evaluation system needs to be revamped to facilitate a more meaningful assessment of the students’ competence.” He also said that overhauling the examination system will bring improvement in the quality. “if that is done the rest will fall in place. A reformed examination system will keep teachers and students on their toes,” he concluded.

Honorary Doctorates: The University confered Honorary Doctorates to three eminent personalities - Child Rights Protectionist Prof Shantha Sinha, Social Entrepreneur Mr. Sonam Wangchuk, and Indian Sand Artist Mr Sudarsan Pattnaik.

Graduating Students: During the convocation 1,466 students including 537 girls received their degrees. 15 students were awarded their PhD degrees and 1,078 MBA degrees. In the other streams 218-BBA, 131- B Tech, 16-BBA-LLB (Hons), MMS-7 and one LLM degrees were awarded.
Gold and Silver Medals - MBA Stream:Seven Gold Medals and five Silver Medals were awarded to students for academic excellence and all round excellence in all the streams.

Meghna Ramesh received the gold medal for academic excellence in the MBA program and Ravneet Chada won ‘Saurabh Sharma Memorial Gold Medal’ for being the Topper in the Marketing stream of the MBA program. Vamsi Yuvaraj Suggula received the silver medal for academic excellence and Gargi Nagpal won ‘Faiyaz Ahmed Khan Memorial Gold Medal’ as Topper in the Finance stream of the MBA program.

Gold and Silver Medals – BBA, BBA-LLB (Hons.) and B.Tech Streams: Sloka Reddy and Kuntluri Nikhila Reddy received the gold medal and silver medal respectively for academic excellence in the BBA program while Abhinav Preetu and Chandra Shekhar received the gold medal and silver medal respectively for academic excellence in the B.Tech. program. In the BBA-LLB (Hons) program the gold and silver medals for academic excellence were awarded to Manveen Sandhu and Yammanuru Siri Reddy respectively.

N J Yasaswy Apollo Hospital Best Student Award:Vamsi Yuvaraj Suggula received Gold Medal and Rs.50,000/- cash rize for ‘N J Yasaswy-Apollo Hospital Best Student Award’ for allround excellence. In the same program P Abhilash was awarded Silver medal and a cash prize of Rs 25,000/-for allround excellence.

Best Teacher Award:Prof.Tamma Koti Reddy, Department of Economics won 'NJ Yasaswy - Apollo Hospital Best Teacher Award’ for Overall Excellence.

About ICFAI University (IFHE): The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) is declared as deemed-to-be university under section 3 of the UGC Act 1956. ICFAI Business School(IBS) is a constituent of IFHE. Within a short span of time since it was established in 1995, IBS Hyderabad has grown impressively and achieved widespread recognition from industry, academic circles and professional bodies in the last 20 years. It is a premier business School that has been consistently ranked by independent rating agencies as one of the top 10 B – Schools of India. It is one of the first business schools in South Asia to receive the prestigious SAQS accreditation. NAAC, an autonomous institute of University Grants Commission has also accredited The IFHE with ‘A’ Grade with an impressive score (institutional CGPA)of 3.43 out of 4.